New Entertainment Center

As part of the preparation for the baby, we decided to move the TV into the living room. (The TV room will become the baby's room.) But since we'd both hate to just have the TV staring at us all the time, we decided we should get an entertainment cabinet with doors that would cover the TV when it was not in use. So a couple weeks ago I started hunting for such a thing on Bellingham's Craigslist. At first I was pretty disappointed with the selection, almost everything available was that really generic oak-with-brass-trim style, which I really don't like. I also didn't want anything with glass doors - the whole point is to HIDE what's inside, right? But after just a short time looking I found one that I really liked. We are now the owners of this well made, sturdy, walnut entertainment center: It was made by Morewood & Yager which is a small southwestern furniture manufacturer in Tucson, AZ. Actually, from their website it looks like the store is in Tucson; they make their furniture in Mexico, but it's their own factory and very nicely crafted. It's a pretty impressive peice of furniture, and it's in sweet condition. We paid $250 for it, which was a little more than I had intended to spend on an entertainment cupboard, but considering the regular price for the same unit on the manufacturer's site is over $2000 I think we got a great deal.

As you can see from the picture it's pretty large, it fits on this wall but just barely. I'm giving it a little time in this spot to see if I get used to it there, but I'm thinking it may need to go in the corner where the turtle's tank is now. Which of course would then mean moving the tank, couch, the table, and so on... whew. Eventually we'll get it all settled and then move the TV, etc. into its new home. Once that is done I can start turning the upstairs room into a nursery - I can't wait!

Things I'd Change

The house is wonderful, don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. But a common question I get is "So, what would you have done differently?" And I must admit, after living here for nearly a year, I've noticed a few things that aren't quite as wonderful as they could be, such as:

#1 - The door to the sunporch opens directly into the inside-corner pillar supporting the porch roof. There's plenty of room to open the door, but it does rather spoil the view out the window in the door, and it makes it a bit tight if you are carying something large through the doorway. There's no structural reason the door couldn't have been located 3 feet or so further to the right, putting it squarely between the two support pillars... we just didn't notice until it was done.

#2 - We shouldn't have run the radiant heat into the pantry, it gets really warm in that little room when the door is closed. It doesn't really need to be heated, but when we were laying the floor we just didn't think about leaving any spaces unheated. It's not really a problem for dried goods or canned foods, but I've stopped keeping garlic, onions, potatoes, apples, squash and the like in there because they tend to go bad. (On the other hand, the sun porch being unheated makes it a great storage area for that sort of thing. In the future when we have bumper crops of fruits and vegetables out of our garden & orchard, this space is going to be filled to the brim with harvest bounty.)

#3 - The upstairs bathroom door opens right next to the sink/vanity, making the space tight and awkward, right where you want to stand to use the sink or look in the mirror. It's cramped enough that the right-hand drawer on the vanity won't open if the door isn't closed completely: There's also the wierdness of having the closet door open right behind the main door. I should just close the door to the bathroom before opening the closet door, which but I seem to be incapable of remembering to do that. I'm forever banging the closet door into the bathroom door. Both of these issues would have been solved by using a pocket door for the bathroom door. Unfortunately, it's too late to change that. I don't even know if its possible to retrofit a pocket door into an existing, load-bearing wall, but if it is I bet its a real hassel.

#4 - No overhang on the kitchen countertops. They are faced flush with the cabinet fronts. It looks really nice, and I'm not even bothered that it makes clean up slightly more difficult because you can't catch the crumbs in your hand as easily when you wipe off the countertop. No, the real problem is that whenever a liquid spills and runs over the edge, it somehow suctions itself into the crevase between facing and the cupboard or drawer. Sometimes I don't notice the spill right away, only to later find a little puddle in the silverware drawer, or a half-dried sticky dribble down the inside of a cupboard door. What makes this worst of all, though, is that my little brother accurately predicted that this would happen. When he first visited the house, shortly before we moved it, he took one look at the countertops and said exactly that would happen. Of course I argued with him at the time, declaring it preposterous to think that having flush-fronted countertops would make any difference at all. It pains me greatly to admit, Jon, but you were right. I hope you'll be up for helping us redo the countertops - with an overhang this time - in a few years!

That's it so far - and it's really very minor stuff. There are also a few light switches and outlets that could be in better spots, but I don't really think you can ever get that sort of thing 100% right.

December Already

Can you beleive it? Not quite 6 months ago (ground was broken for the driveway June 15th), the house site was just a field:
Today we have windows to look out of, walls to keep the cold out, floors, lights, a roof, trim, and even countertops! It really is amazing what a bunch of people (especially a bunch of pros) can do. I'm thinking of this today, because I just sent the move-out notice for the apartment to the landlord. I've never been this excited about giving notice before...
Friday and Saturday were busy days at the house, the painters finished up all the upstairs trim, and removed the masking leaving the coast clear for the carpet to be installed today or tomorrow. Here's a picture of the doorway trim, it changes from the bedroom trim color (off-white) to the rest-of-the-house trim color (orangy-tan) in the middle.
Here's a shot of the baseboard trim on the stairway, so you can see what the trim looks like against the wall color. Pretty nice, eh?
Down in the kitchen, Al Hale the Laminate guy was working on putting the kitchen countertops down. I'll get some shots of the finished countertops tonight & post them tomorrow.
As you can see, Steve finished laying the cork flooring in the kitchen, and even put the corner trim pieces on the cabinets to cover the end grain. I think all we need is the rest of the drawer pulls and the kick plates, and the cabinets will be done.
Well, except for a thorough dusting. :)

Trim, Doors & Knobs

Yesterday all the doors upstairs were hung, and Steve trimmed out several of the windows and got started on trimming the doors as well. Here he is, hard at work in the hallway:
And this is what the hallway looks like when he's gone downstairs to cut some more peices...
Here is one of the finished gable windows. I really like the classic lines of the trim. (I'll try to get a detail shot one of these days so you can really see what I'm talking about. For now, you can just click the picture and it'll enlarge a little bit.) Trim style is one of those things that I've never really paid much attention too, at least not in any detailed way - I just know if I like it or not in a general sense. When Mark started asking me HOW I wanted the trim to be done, I was pretty much at a total loss for what to say. This is what he suggested, and I am really, really happy with it.
Also, notice that the knobs have been put on the windowseat cabinet. Here's a close up of the knobs in the laundry room:
And here are the drawer pulls in the kitchen. I love that Cherry. What a beautiful wood!
Lots more door hanging and trim work to come...

Exterior Painted

Yesterday Brad Martin the painter (of Brad Martin Painting, naturally) painted the house! And just in time too, because the rain clouds rolled in last night and now it's pouring down rain like it doesn't plan on stopping until March. The trim isn't done yet, but that's ok. It can be done a little at a time on dry days, I guess. So, without further ado: the pictures!

Starting with the gabled east side...
The Front, with masking still in place:
and the West side. The small wall there that's still tar paper is going to be shingled, eventually. It's also going to have the cat door in it.
Inside, the bar was built and faced with wood veneer. With the pendant lights turned off, you can see the yellow/beige color of the shades that I mentioned the other day because they coordinate so nicely with the paint color. Not to mention the color of the wood itself.
Also in the last couple of days, the windowseat benches in the bedrooms were capped with boards which will bear the weight of sitting persons, and the countertop in the laundry room was connected to the workbench. The drain for the clawfoot tub was installed at the correct position, and the spacing box and it's pea gravel was replaced with concrete. I hope to see the marmoleum down on that floor soon, and following that the tub itself. :)

Counters, marmoleum & trim, oh my!

The counters were put down on top of the kitchen cabinets yesterday. Not the laminate, just the plywood that the laminate will go on top of, I mean. Even though it isn't the finished surface, it ties everything together nicely. Also, I don't think I pointed out before that the back of island was wrapped with a matching black-finished veneer. It's really looking nice.
Here's the workbench in the laundry room, which was started yesterday. Also in this picture you can see the marmoleum which was installed Sunday. This room is always going to feel sunny and cheerful, even on rainy winter days. Or nights, for that matter.
Here's the marmoleum in the upstairs bathroom. It's the same pattern as the laundry room. This pattern is great, not only is it pretty but it will hide all kinds of dirt!
A big stack of trim materials was delivered yesterday and piled up in the living room. It's wierd to think that it takes so much material to trim out a house, but I know that it will. The interior doors and closet doors were also delivered, and are stacked in the mudroom, ready to go.
I spoke to Mark a little bit ago, and he's out with the plumber measuring the height of the feet of the clawfoot tub, and they'll be getting that drain fitting finalized either today or tomorrow. I'll kind of miss being able to tell people that we decided to install an indoor litterbox for the cats when the spacer box with it's pea-gravel fill is removed from the bathroom floor and replaced with a drain and some quickcrete. Oh well. Hardly anybody fell for it anyhow.

Also, the painter is supposed to be on his way out to get started on the exterior! Stay tuned for more on that in the next few days...

Going beyond the recessed can...

Yesterday Frank and Andy started putting up some of the "fancy" light fixtures. You know, the ones that aren't recessed cans? There are still a couple of cans to put in, such as the ones in the stairwell. We didn't get a lot of surface-mount fixtures, as they are quite a bit more expensive than the cans (which DO do the job just fine, albeit without much flair). The surface mount fixtures really add a nice touch though. This one, for instance, is located on either side of the sliding glass door in the sunroom. Rotated the other way around (so the shade points down) it will also serve as a wall sconce on the stairway. I love the little swoopy thing.
Here's its relative, the triple fixture, which is appearing above both bathroom vanities. You can't really see the finish very distinctly in either of these images, but they are (of course) oil-rubbed bronze.

Speaking of bathroom vanities, here's the one for the downstairs bathroom, which was installed yesterday. The upstairs one will look similar, although the dimensions are slightly different.
In the bedrooms, the window-seat cabinets were put in yesterday as well.
I'm really looking forward to someday spending rainy sunday afternoons curled up with a good book in one of these window nooks. Well, after we put down a nice thick cushion, that is.

I expect Frank and Andy finished up the rest of the fixtures today, with such fun stuff as the pendant lights that will hang over the bar, and the front porch light, and other good things. You'll just have to check back on Monday to see pictures of those. :)

Something is Different...

Can you spot the exciting new house development in this picture? That's right, there's lights! Real, live electric lights that can be turned on and off with a switch! Of course, not all of the fixtures are hooked up, but I turned all the ones that were and went outside to take this picture:
Here they are, blazing away in the kitchen, showing off the cabinets very nicely.
Here are the black island cabinets in place. They'll look really striking with the black stove, I think. As you can see, there are no lights up yet in the living room... but I expect there will be by the time I get out there tonight.
Here's the laundry room, witht the maple cabinets. The washer and the dryer will go along that wall, beneath the row of cabinets. The cabinet in the corner is a lazy susan. The square box thing sitting on top of it is a stool, I think, that the cabinet guy is using to help with the instalation.
Here's the rest of the laundry room cabinets. There will be a 15" square utility sink in front of the window.
Not only are the lights hooked up in the utility room, but the fan is also operational, and there are switch plates on the walls. It's probably the most finished room in the house right now. I probably spent 10 full minutes standing there, switching the lights and fan on and off and on and off... :)

Inside & Outside

More Progress on various fronts yesterday. Outside, the soffits were finished, with a neat little ventilating strip running all the way around the porch roof. It's a little metal grill, like a miniture register, set in a few inches from the outside edge of the eave. It looks good and is also very funtional.

Also, someone (probably Steve) started primering the fascia boards white. Obviously still a work in progress, but off to a good start.

Inside, the cabinet installation continues! The cabinet in the far right of this picture (the one with one door on) is the one that will support the kitchen sink. Out of the picture to the left is where the refridgerator will go.
These are the drawers that will go in the middle unit in the above pictures, among other places. They are currently stacked in the pantry. I think they are really striking, all stacked together like that, and you can really see how beautifully the paint color compliments the wood.
In other news, the fifth coast of porcelain/epoxy on the bathtub turned out beautifully. It's glossy, smooth and uniformly white - everything I wanted in a bathtub! It's still possible to see some spots where I didn't do a perfect job fixing some of the chips, but I can live with that. Considering what we started with and what we went through to get it back into shape, I think it's actually good that it doesn't look precicely perfect. I'd hate for anyone to mistakenly think I just toodled out to the store and bought a NEW tub like some kind of wuss. Nope, this tub's got character, and history, and no amount of restoration can cover that up. And it's a good thing, too!

Cabinets! Woo! Woo!

That's right, the first kitchen cabinets were put into place yesterday. It's so exciting I could just hyperventilate! I remember back when we picked them out, and even when they were delivered, cabinetry didn't seem nearly as real or exciting as it does now that they are going in. This is SO MUCH FUN! It might be my favorite thing so far. Wheeeeeee!

Most of the cabinets are still in their boxes or just sort of stacked around the kitchen and living room, and the drawers and doors and stuff are all in the pantry, but a couple of them are actually in their spots. Cary and I had fun checking them all out last night, as you can see:
This is the full-height "pantry" cabinet. Isn't the wood on the door beautiful? To the left as you look at the picture is the counter/bar that opens out into the living room.
I'm not sure which of us is to blame, but our photo albums are FULL of pictures taken by Cary of me crawling into some little nook and then grinning like a maniac at the camera.
All of the cabinets have these stickers on them. Rick H, Jason, and Diane - thanks! We haven't opened all the boxes yet, but what I've seen so far looks great.
Here's one of the cabinets for the kitchen island, with the "distressed" black finish. It's still got it's protective straps and corner thingies on, but you get the idea.

I'm sure that when I get out there tonight more of the kitchen will have taken shape... And you can count on finding more pictures and excited blathering about them here tomorrow!

Knobs

The knobs and drawer pulls for all the cabinets are here! I really like them, they not only look good (imho) but they also have a really nice feel to them. The little knobs for the cupboard doors are nice and heavy (they must be solid) and they just fit right in my hand. The drawer pulls are lighter and thinner but don't feel cheap or chintzy. Both of course in the "oil-rubbed bronze" finish that we're using on everything metal. I like it for it's warm, not-too-shiny but not completely matte finish, it always looks good but doesn't shout "look at me!" the way chrome or brushed nickel does. Allen came over last night to let me know that there was a package waiting for me (UPS delivered the knobs to his house 'cause nobody lives at mine, yet), and of course he wanted to have a look at the progress on the house. It'd been a while since he'd visited, so there was lots to see. Also, my friend Toni came out for her first-ever visit to the house (though she's heard all about it, carpooling with me to work all summer. Toni is a very patient listener!). The three of us had a nice time taking the grand tour.

Cabinets Delivered!

That's right, there's a huge stack of boxes in my shop, containing all the cabinets, kick boards, and varous other thingamajigs for the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, and bedroom windowseats shipped up from the cabinet factory in Independence, OR. The delivery guys - like delivery guys everywhere - have a loose interpretation of what "UP" means. I'm sure it's no big deal if they are stacked on their sides, but it does make me smile.
No, I didn't open any of them. I definitely considered it, but decided I should be patient. Just this once.

Cabinet Update

I just finalized the cabinet order with Robin. Turns out that the plastic laminate cabinets we were considering putting in the laundry room - because we thought they'd be cheaper than maple - cost the same amount. Hmmm, so wood vs. plastic - that's an easy choice! Back to the wood, and back to being $200 over budget. Or are we... ?

The good news is that we hadn't taken into acount that we were underbudget on knobs and handles! So when everything is totalled up, cabinets PLUS knobs is only about $100 over the total budget for both. And that can come out of the extra left in the lighting budget, with some more left over. So, we get all the cabinets we wanted*, even the cool black finish on the island, and we're still within the total budget. Yay!

*Well, everything except the wine rack. They don't make them small enough for the little space we wanted to tuck it in. But I think we can handle keeping the wine in the pantry. :)

Cabinet Selection

Cary and I met with Robin at the Cabinet Shop yesterday afternoon. It was fun. We decided on Shaker-style (example at right) cabinets in Cherry for the kitchen and bathrooms. The kitchen island will be different, with an antiqued black stain so it will stand out from the rest of the cabinets. The laundry/craft room will have plain painted cabinets, we didn't feel like we needed the classiness (or the expense) of cherry in that space. The bedroom windowseats will have cabinets underneath as well for a little built-in storage.

So now we wait to hear back whether we went way over budget and have to tone things down or not...